Definitely one of the best films of the 1990's in my opinion, The Apple is an engaging Persian film about two young girls discovering the outside world for the first time after being imprisoned inside their homes by their strict parents. The production of the film itself is highly interesting, with director Samira Makhmalbaf at age seventeen while shooting some of the real-life people involved that are playing themselves, which surprisingly includes the strict father fighting for his daughter's custody. The film's plot is rather uneventful for the most part as it appears to more so document the subjects in a staged manner. Samira Makhmalbaf presents every scene in a subtle way and doesn't make overt and obvious comments to manipulate the audience to think one way. Instead the characters/subjects on screen make the arguments for themselves without one necessarily winning over the other; this allows viewers to think for themselves with a near equal amount of screen time the parents and the social worker has on screen. The scenes involving the children excellently displays childhood innocence and learning to adapt into a new surrounding. Obviously, due to the uneventful plot and slow pace, this is not a film for everybody. But if you are not one to easily call a film boring or pretentious because you subjectively don't like it, then check it out. You may like it.
Review of The Apple
